Foolish Hearts
by theyellowumbrella
Summary: John Paul and Craig story, set when they are children. (Tina and Steph are still alive) rate and review!
1. Chapter One

**This has been saved to my computer for a while now, so I decided to finish it and post it up on here. Originally a one shot but I will do more upon request. McDean as children. R&R please?**

"John Paul! Just- go and explore or something!" Mum yelled at me, groaning. I sighed and opened the door, closing it behind me. The new village looked strange, and every face I saw, I knew not to mess with them. I walked around for a while, when I reached a building called The Dog in the Pond. Intrigued at what this might be, I entered it.

"We're not open yet!" A voice called from behind the bar. I couldn't see them, yet I already knew it was a boy.

"Mum, there's an early comer!" He shouted through the back, and there was a mumble back in response. The boy popped his head up over the counter, and rolled his eyes at me.

"Oi, you're too young to be in here. This is a pub."

"It is?" I asked, peering around the room. He nodded, looking quite offended at my query.

"I can prove it, if you like." He said, motioning me towards him.

"Okay." I said warily, half-scared he was going to scream at me or scare me or something. Instead, he leaned down and produced a bottle of whisky, two bottles of beer and some vodka.

"My mum trusts me to look after the bar." He said proudly, smirking widely. I nodded at him, and perched myself on the counter top. "You have to go. You're not aloud in the pub, well, not at the bar, anyway, plus we're not even open yet. I'm Craig." He shook my hand and then put the drinks back, except for one beer.

"You wanna split it?" He asked, pointing at the bottle. I thought back to Christmas, when Nana came over and everybody drank, even Jacqui, a bit. Michaela sometimes sneaked some when nobody was looking, but not me. I hadn't had a drink before, but I wanted to impress this boy, because he was around my age and I could see him becoming a potential friend. I nodded meekly, swinging my legs. Suddenly, the clickety-clack of somebody's high heels came bursting through the door, and Craig suddenly dropped the bottle of beer.

"Oh, Craig! Your mum would kill you if she found out." A woman with blonde hair said.

"That's why, Becca, she'll never find out. And you don't go blabbing to Jake or to Steph **or **to Debbie - especially not Debbie." She nodded at him, and swept up the mess.

"Who's your friend, then?"

Craig yanked me towards him a little more and said with a puzzled look on his face, "This is..." I realized I hadn't told him my name, and I was just away to when I felt a tight grip on my shoulders.

"Oi, you! Mum said to go explore, not go sauntering off to the first boozer you find. God, John Paul, you really must be a McQueen." I recognized her voice as Mercedes as she tried to pull me down.

"Hey, you! Get off of my friend!" Craig shouted in defence, earning a laugh from Mercedes.

"And who are you?" She asked, tugging more at my overly baggy jumper.

"I'm Craig, and you can get your mucky paws off of my mate or I'll have to ban you from ever entering this pub again." Mercedes sniggered at this commented, and finally succeeded on pulling me down.

"Craig, this is Mercedes. She's my older sister." I mumbled, staring at the ground.

"Oh. Well, I have to go. I suppose I'll see you around at school, maybe." Craig replied, walking away through the back with Becca not far behind.

-xxx-

"So he was at the pub? Of course he was. You cheeky little-" Tina cut Mum off by passing a mug of coffee to her.

"Oh, thanks love." I rolled my eyes and snuck upstairs into my bedroom, where I still hadn't unpacked. I looked out of the window, where I had a clear view of the village. I could see some kids sitting by the water fountain, laughing together. A small smile appeared on my face, realising I'd probably be sharing a school with them.

"John Paul, Mum says get to bed." I was taken from my thoughts by Jacqui, who had appeared in my doorway. I nodded and looked around for some pyjamas. I finally found some Power Ranger ones and changed into them, crawling into my bed. I fell asleep almost instantly into a dreamless slumber.

-xxx-

I was woken up by Michaela, who seemed to be repetitively slapping me.

"What the hell?" I yelled, jumping out of bed. She giggled and ran out of the room, leaving me to get dressed. I threw on my crumpled school uniform, packed my bag and wolfed down a bowl of Rice Krispies.

"Bye!" I said, making my way to the door. There was a mumble in response, everybody's mouths still full with cereal. Since the school wasn't far away, I walked quite slowly. I arrived within a few minutes, the once faraway building not looking so grand anymore. It was a battered building with broken windows and spray-painted walls. There were floods of children everywhere, talking and laughing, teasing each other. Suddenly, I was being dragged into a classroom. I turned around to see Craig sitting at a table with two girls.

"John Paul, this is Hannah and Sarah, Hannah and Sarah, this is John Paul." He introduced, pointing to each of the girls. I took in their features carefully. Hannah had long blonde hair and blue eyes, typical girl. She had a small smile, but it was cute. Sarah had black hair instead, but also blue eyes.

"You can sit at our table, if we can talk the teacher into it." Hannah mumbled, pointing at the seat opposite her, next to where Craig was.

"Yeah! There'll be two boys then. There's a seat over beside Sonny but he's bad news. I hate him." Craig exclaimed, pulling me down onto the chair. The rest of the day went by in a blur. I got to sit at the table with Craig, Sarah and Hannah, I learned that Sarah has a sister called Amy, Michaela came into class, which was embarassing.

"See you tomorrow." I said as Hannah and Sarah sauntered off with a girl named Nancy. I looked back at Craig, who was packing his things. He saw me looking and smiled.

"So, I was thinking that it must be really crowded in your house with six other people and I was wondering if you wanted to come out tonight? I was just going to hang out at the water fountain, maybe annoy the people in Evissa or something, nothing exciting." He said whilst zipping up his bag and throwing it over his shoulder. Somehow, it seemed exciting.

"Uh, yeah. I'll probably be out after tea, so around half five to six. Where will I meet you?" I asked as we walked towards the door.

"Pub. Just walk in and when Mum or Dad or somebody asks who you are or tries to kick you out just tell them you're waiting on Craig. I'll warn them, though. See you tonight, then." He replied as we exited the school.

"Bye." I said, waving at him.


	2. Chapter Two

**Sorry this is taking so long to update, I'm not having much inspiration for anything lately, especially not By Your Side, which appears most popular. This chapter is mostly them doing homework and being adorable. Just pure fluffiness, with the introduction of Doug, Texas and Leanne. Sorry its short, guys. Rate and review!**

-Craig-

I turned my head to John Paul, who was lying on the opposite bed, doodling in his homework book.

"What's number three?" I asked, dropping my pencil. He laughed and lifted himself up, staring back at me.

"I'm on number seven, mate! Come one, what's the question? And why are they making us do algebra? I mean...do they know that we're ten years old?" I giggled at his response and looked down at my book.

"Remove brackets and simplify. 6(a+4)+2(2a+3)." I replied, groaning in frustration. He smirked at me and scanned the worksheet, finally stopping, his eyes rested on some numbers.

"Its 10a+30. You should be able to figure that out, we've been doing this since before I even moved here. Seriously, this village is so strange. I mean, at my old school we were revising time and now I'm on basic algebra. At my age! Ridiculous, that's what my mum says." I marked in the answer and looked down at the next one.

There was a knock on the door, followed by another. I lifted myself from my slump to go and open the door, where Carmel was standing. She was in a pair of knee-high shorts and a baggy football shirt, and she had an angry look on her face. As soon as I saw her, I couldn't help but snigger, attracting the attention of my new friend.

"Shut it, Craig. John Paul, somebody's downstairs for you. Three people actually. One was American, I think." He nodded, and I automatically knew it was Doug. He was the only American kid we knew, so it had to be him.

"Why you wearing that?" I asked, pointing a finger at the outfit.

"Dad wants me to. He asked if you would, John Paul, but I said no." John Paul nodded at her, taking me downstairs with him. Sitting on the sofa was Doug, Texas and Leanne, who were all getting interrogated by Jacqui.

"Are you here legally?" Jacqui asked Doug, obviously to his and John Paul's horror.

"Jac! Sorry, Doug. Come on, wanna go annoy Warren?" John Paul asked, earning a nod from us all.

"Don't mess with Warren, guys. He's bad news." Jacqui warned, but we all ignored her.

-xxx-

"No way! Batman is way better than Superman." Texas yelled. Leanne scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Team Superman. Batman is weak, Tex." I laughed at her argument, and looked over at John Paul, who was talking to Doug.

I was a part of the argument over Superman and Batman, but now they were both arguing and I couldn't get a word in edgeways. I didn't really care, I was more bothered about being caught. We were all crouched down underneath Warren's desk, even though he wouldn't be here for a few minutes. Just then, there were footsteps and everybdoy shut up. I realized having five kids under your desk would be fairly obvious, so I pulled the girls behind a big crate of alcohol. The footsteps got louder as Warren approached, our breathing becoming silent. The footsteps died out again as Warren sat down, threatening the hiding spot of Doug and John Paul.

"We have to get out!" I whispered, hardly hearing myself. They both nodded and I crawled towards the desk.

"I know you're under there, Dean. Get you and your stupid friends out of here before I throw you out!" His voice was harsh, it stung like a nettle. I jumped up, literally. The boys came next, followed by the girls.

"S-Sorry Mr. Fox." Doug apologized before we all ran out of the club, panting.

"That was a close one! Well, we have to go. Seeya!" Leanne said once we were away from the club. Texas and Doug followed her.

"I best be off. Bye, Craig." John Paul said as he walked away, waving. I grinned and waved back, walking back to the pub.


End file.
